Sensex leaps to new peak at
9,274

Agencies

Mumbai, Dec 13 The boom conditions at the Bombay Stock
Exchange continued unabated and the sensex today went up by
another 130 points to scale new peaks at 9,274.19 buoyed by a
sustained buying spree by operators and retail investors
coupled with fair amount of FII purchases.

Surpassing the crucial 9,175 resistance level, the BSE's
Benchmark 30-share Sensitive Index headed for new peaks and
hit a new intra-day high of 9,274.19 before even settling at a
new closing peak of 9,263.90 against yesterday's close of
9,133.67, a net rise of 130.23 points or 1.43 per cent.

After a brief initial hesitancy, operators and retailers
resorted to across-the-board buying support in a bid to cover
their short positions ahead of the Federal Open Market
Committee meeting tonight, which is expected to hike the US
interest rates by a 25 basis point.

Even as the market factored this hike, brokers said
investors seemed to be interested in the tone of speech of
Fed's chairman on whether the rate hikes would continue at a
measured pace or halt it.

The sentiment was bolstered by increased FII activity at
the last weekend. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)
reported net investments of a hefty Rs 420.1 crore on Friday.

Contrary to a general belief of a correction, the sensex
continued to climb as the bullish fervour turned further
intensive helped by the government's pro-reform policies.

The government has revived its disinvestment initiative and
plans to divest a part of its stakes in six profit-making
non-navratna public sector undertakings (PSUs).

The government is also optimistic about the annual GDP
growth rate, which is expected to be around 8-10 per cent.
Heavyweights like RIL, SBI, Infosys Tech, ONGC, HDFC, ITC
Satyam Computers, Grasim, Maruti Udyog, Tata Steel and L&T
scored impressive gains.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index soared up by 62.52 points to
4,882.97 from previous close of 4,820.45.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply up
at 1,169.60 and 422.77 at close compared to previous close of
1,155.47 and 416.40 respectively. The BSE-500 Index shot up by
41.69 points to 3,745.58 from last close of 3,703.89 and the
Dollex-30 ended higher at 1,651.25 from 1,623.10.

RIL spurted by 9.05 to 871.90, Infosys Tech by 20.60 to
2947.15, SBI by 18.20 to 926.80, HDFC by 41.90 to 1171.45, HLL
by 2.10 to 188.40, Tata Motor by 35.40 to 626.30, TCS Ltd by
18.40 to 1667.75, Wipro by 12.05 to 448.85, Satyam Computer by
15.75 to 686.60, ONGC by 17.05 to 1182.10, Grasim by 29.85 to
1409.70, BHEL by 10.45 to 1434.60, HDFC Bank by 8.90 to 696.75
ITC by 3.60 to 142, Maruti Udyog by 13.40 to 662.30, L&T
by 24.25 to 1770.10, Tata Steel by 7.45 to 370.20, ACC by
29.35 to 558.50, Bharti Tele-Ven by 2.70 to 352.65, ICICI Bank
by 1.20 to 562.20 and Ranbaxy by 6.10 to 389.70.

REL fell by 5.05 to 640, Tata Power by 3.10 to 445.35 and
Bajaj Auto by 1.25 to 2113.65.